Monday, January 14, 2013

Thursday, July 19, 2012

You may think from the title of this post that it's directed at how long it's been since I've blogged. Not so. :) It's actually the title of a book I read by William J. Bennett.

Before this book I had only briefly heard of William J. Bennett. He has written other books, one of them being "The Book of Virtues for Young People" which I owned. This book however is of a completely different genre than I normally delve into. On the outside it appears to be a political book. It is, but it is more than that. It takes a look at our country's history from 1998-2008.

Normally, I would say "boring". I don't mind politics so much, but it always seems so hard to find the truth in all of it. I also feel that too many times large vocabularies are used to impress and the average audience reading it is left somewhat behind, wondering what they just read. This book gave me an insight into recent political history. There were things that humored me (surprisingly) and I learned a lot.

It was not a quick read for me. I am a fairly voracious reader, but this one took me awhile to get through. It's thought provoking. There is a lot of information in it. I was glad for the pictures included that gave me a visual to the people and places that he spoke of.

What I appreciated most about this book was that it's about the most impartial political minded material I've ever read. The author was willing to point out flaws in the administration that he worked for as well as flaws of new administration. He also pointed out the good in both. I can appreciate that neither one is perfect and Mr. Bennett did a great job of showing this.

While it's not something I'm likely to read again, I am glad that I took the time to plow through it and finish it. I do think it's very educational and at times entertaining. It helped me to better understand the presidency and our recent political history including 9/11 and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

I'm kind of tired of floating through life. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. So I've decided to become more intentional in the things I do this year. One of the areas I plan to do this is in my reading. I spend way more time reading online that I should. I look at the books on my bookshelf and think....someday. Someday never comes. So this year, I will be picking out 24 books to read- 2 a month. Most of them will be non-fiction. I want things that are going to help me grow as a person and in my relationship with God. One of the ways I can do that is by becoming intentional about the media that I am putting into my head. So, without further ado. Here is this year's reading list.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

***Warning*** The following recipe is not healthy. In fact, it is bad for you. If you are concerned about this, do NOT proceed.***

This is a recipe that I've had in my "to try" file for a little while now. It is Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings. It calls for 2 sticks of butter (Paula Deen Would be so proud!) and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. This is all before you top it off with a can of Mt. Dew.

The recipe I used said "You'll know you're doing it right if it looks kinda gross." Yep, I did it right! The final product. The buttery smell was intoxicating. The taste was yummy. I will make these again!